The Odyssey of Toshiro Hitsugaya
by XSpaRkieX
Summary: Another rock-music-based story about Hitsugaya's journey from shinigami, to underground star, to full-fledged musical sensation.
1. Discovery

The Odyssey of Toshiro Hitsugaya

I.

Discovery

"I'm…bored…"

Toshiro Hitsugaya had never spoken those words together. Boredom was something he didn't allow himself to feel. Boredom implies a lack of activity, and the Captain of a squad should never have idle time. The problem was, too many of them HAD more then their share of idle time, and Toshiro took it upon himself to pick up the slack. Because of this, boredom was not permitted, and the diminutive Captain went to great lengths to keep himself constantly occupied.

Once, he had set an entire stack of completed paperwork aflame, and claimed it had been an accident. He had gone to Ukitake to acquire more forms, but the older Captain had assured him that the forms were minor, and could be done by another. When the sickly Shinigami had looked away, Toshiro had placed a layer of ice in his eye, and allowed it to melt. When Jushiro looked to his young friend, he saw what he thought was a tear running down his face. Feeling sorry for the smaller Captain, Ukitake had promised that if it made him feel better, replacement forms would be delivered right away. Unfortunately, Hitsugaya's 'fake cry' tactic also got him a tight hug from Jushiro, and a large box of assorted candies, two things he hated.

Hitsugaya's current state of boredom came from the fact that he was currently sprawled on the floor of Ichigo Kurosaki's bedroom, with nothing to do. Ichigo and Rukia had gone to school, telling Hitsugaya to 'entertain himself'. No easy task for someone like him. Before coming to the human world, Toshiro Hitsugaya had spent hours pouring over books that he thought contained all information needed to live in the human world. He was currently fluent in Japanese, English, Spanish, German, Chinese, and Russian, he had full proficiency in philosophy and political sciences, he had obscene knowledge of history, and he had even read a fair amount of famous novels and poems.

He hadn't been in the living world for long enough periods of time to merit a full study of its current customs and culture, but this trip was predicted to last up to several months. He had had a heated discussion with the head captain before his departure, and as most arguments with the ancient man, it ended with the other party losing.

However, none of this prepared him for things like the 'Television Set', the 'Toaster Oven', or the mysterious device Ichigo called a 'Playstation 3'. Of all these strange objects that had eluded his studies, nothing was more unusual than the odd…THING that was resting against Ichigo's wall. Toshiro hadn't noticed it there before, making him believe that it was some strange human monster that had tried to sneak up on him.

"I'm getting paranoid…" Hitsugaya said as he began to inch closer to the potential monster, getting a closer look at it. On the bottom, it was an odd blob shape, and connected to that was a long, straight part. On closer examination, Hitsugaya saw that it had wires of various thicknesses running from the center of the blob, all the way up the straight part, ending at a curling top segment. There, each wire was connected to an adjustable knob. Looking at the straight part, he saw that there were several metal lines running horizontally across it at increasingly smaller intervals.

Believing that the wires were used to activate the device, Toshiro took the thickest wire between his thumb and forefinger, and pulled it gently away from the…thing. Eventually, the tension on the wire became too much, and Toshiro couldn't pull it back any further. In frustration, he released it. He was rewarded with a low, loud snapping sound of the wire being pulled back against the straight part. Although he would deny it whenever recounting this, Toshiro jumped back in complete surprise, and a mild amount of fright. It had sounded almost like a noise of pain, or possibly anger, and Hitsugaya had drawn back, preparing himself for a strike that never came.

He looked back over to the odd device and saw it unmoved. He plucked at the wire again, and accidentally hit the one next to it. This one made a slightly higher sound, and Toshiro put two and two together. He plucked all the wires from thickest to thinnest, and was rewarded with an ascending stream of notes. When he went in reverse, the notes went from high to low.

At this point, Hitsugaya realized exactly what the thing was. It was a modern musical instrument, and assumed that it was similar to instruments he had seen being played back home. He pulled it onto his lap, and wrapped his hand around what he now identified as the neck of the instrument, and placed his finger on top of a wire, over one of the metal bars. When he plucked the wire, it gave an unpleasant sound, and instead slipped it into the space between two bars. This gave a much clearer, higher sound.

He soon found that playing certain successions of notes, he was rewarded with a pleasing melody. He spent the next few hours learning more about the mysterious instrument, eventually losing himself in his playing.

"Well Toshiro," the voice of the instrument's owner rang out, "looks like you found a way to keep yourself amused after all."

"Captain Hitsugaya. What is this?"

"That's my guitar. You've been playing my acoustic, the electrics in the closet."

"My ROOM you mean." Rukia seemed monumentally irritated at her sleeping area being used for its original purpose.

"No, I mean my goddamn closet you stupid midget!"

Both of the room's vertically challenged occupants struck Ichigo hard.

"I'm not stupid!"

"Are you saying small people have small brains you son of a bitch?"

Ichigo's temporary state of unconsciousness left Hitsugaya to his own devices once again, so he took up the 'guitar' once more and resumed his playing. As a small pool of blood began collecting out of the corner of Ichigo's mouth, Rukia began her kido to heal any serious damage that they may have caused. Hitsugaya began to wonder more about the guitar now. What was it made of? Where did one acquire one? Could he get one to bring home with him?

The last question plagued him hardest. He had taken such pleasure in playing the guitar; he didn't think he'd be able to wait to be assigned back to the living world to play one again. He resolved to ask Ichigo how to get one, and then speak to Urahara about the possibility of getting it into the spirit world when he had to return.

As Rukia began to frantically shake Ichigo, Hitsugaya let his mind wander into the deepest, darkest area in his mind where he kept the part of his psyche he hated the most. Even deeper than his emotions and libido, in the most sealed segment of his consciousness, he found what he wanted.

His imagination.

He had heard about celebrities that made their living in music, and were loved as much as those who partook in acting. He thought they were called 'stone triangles' or something to that effect. The only thing he knew for sure was that he wanted to become one of these musical virtuosos, and this is where the imagination that he had imprisoned for as long as he could remember took flight.

While Rukia backed slowly away from the enraged Ichigo, Hitsugaya pictured himself on a lighted stage, pouring every ounce of energy he had into his music. After each song he played, the crowd of strangers he was performing for loudly cheered his name, begging for more.

As the other two drew their zanpakuto, he began to see the vast wealth his music had brought him, and he saw how he lived without a care, or ever having to work for himself. His money paid for his comfort, and he was never forced to hide himself behind sheets of useless paperwork to keep busy. He worked on his own whim, doing whatever he pleased, and letting others deal with Personnel Transfer Forms, Vacation/Raise Requests, and other damnable documents.

He saw how happy he could make the ones he cared about. His money could buy them whatever they wanted, and he would gladly grant their wishes.

A sharp pain in his head tore him away from these wonderful fantasies, and he accidentally dropped the precious instrument.

"HEY! Be careful with that, it was expensive!"

Hitsugaya's face noticeably fell. He had never thought that a guitar would be high-priced. So many people had them, and stone triangles had hundreds, some of which they didn't use as far as he could tell.

"Ichigo…" he began slowly, "can you teach me to be better at this?"

Ichigo looked shocked. From what he had heard, Hitsugaya was far superior to him, and he had taught himself in a matter of hours. Now, the Great Toshiro, the stone-faced, hard-working captain…was asking him for guitar lessons?

"Not really…" he started, noting how disappointed the short captain looked, "but I think I know somebody that CAN help you out Shiro."

"CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA!"


	2. Didacts and Narpets

Part II.

Didacts and Narpets

"Here?"

Hitsugaya had never been here before. Ichigo had told him that one of his good friends was a talented guitarist, and he had said they would go ask for lessons. However, this house was unfamiliar, and seemed imposing for a reason that he couldn't explain. He felt almost as though someone very powerful lived here; someone not to be fucked with.

Ichigo walked up to the door of the house, and pushed a small button. Faintly, Hitsugaya heard a buzzing sound, which ceased as soon as he removed his finger. Soon, footfalls signaled that someone had answered the buzz. As the door opened, Hitsugaya looked over to see his guitar teacher.

"Hey Ichigo."

"What's up Tatsuki?"

Hitsugaya was bewildered, so much so that he spoke before thinking.

"Her? SHE can play guitar?"

Before he knew it, the lanky girl had pinned him against a tree.

"What's that supposed to mean you little sexist?"

"Well," for the first time in his life, he was too frightened to complain about a height comment, "all female 'musicians' I've seen are basically whores who walk around in revealing clothes, exploiting their sexuality rather than having any talent. I wasn't sure that women could BE good at music"

To his (and Ichigo's) surprise, Tatsuki let him drop to the ground.

"W-w-w-WHAT?!?" Both turned to the red-head, "If I'D said that, you'd have broken my ribs!"

"True," said the spiky haired girl, "but I can't pick on the little guy."

"I'M NOT LITTLE!"

Tatsuki grinned slightly, "I'm short, and I have to look down to meet your eye."

"Do I have to take lessons from her?"

"Wait a second," Tatsuki was obviously oblivious to any teaching she was going to be doing, "you came over to ask for karate lessons?"

"No," Ichigo replied, hefting the case he was holding, "guitar lessons."

Tatsuki stared at her old friend, still not fully comprehending what she was being told. It took an additional ten minutes to explain what they were after, and took Ichigo five extra minutes to improvise a fake back-story for Hitsugaya. Apparently, he was a runaway who had decided to stay at Ichigo's house, and he was very talented at guitar. Due to Hitsugaya's skill, there was no more he could learn from Ichigo, and the two had come to Tatsuki to get free lessons.

"They're not gonna be free," the tomboy said sitting down on her bed, "and the second the punk starts slacking off, I'm done."

"I'M NOT A PUNK!"

Despite her average height, Tatsuki took frequent jabs at Hitsugaya. He was getting very sick, but he had to give her points for originality. She hadn't reused any of the same terms yet, whereas most just called him 'midget' or 'shorty'. Another thing that annoyed him less was that she didn't seem to mean it derogatively, but she was just playing with him. Being treated like a kid was slightly less horrible than being treated like a worthless, freaky looking brat.

"So," Ichigo sighed, "what do you want?"

Well, let's see…money…no…" she went into mock thought, "Maybe you being my butler…no…" Her face took on a twisted grin, "Maybe for this little cutie to live HERE from now on!"

Hitsugaya flew back to the wall. He'd thought he'd be used to every remotely sexual thing a woman could say after being with Matsumoto so long, but it seemed he was wrong. Matsumoto was always jokingly, or to get out of work, but this seemed genuine. Suddenly, the potential succubus burst out laughing.

"It's alright man," she said, "I wouldn't REALLY force myself on you."

Ichigo leaned over to Hitsugaya, "She took acting lessons for three years."

"S-s-s-s-she's n-not bad…"

----

"No, not like that!"

For about an hour, Tatsuki and Hitsugaya had been almost at war over her teaching. As it turned out, she had taken guitar up as a side interest several years ago, and had become quite talented at the instrument. She also had a massive collection of American and British albums, due to her father's business trips abroad. He had started to bring her CDs out of guilt from never being around, and over the years, she had gotten more and more. She had told him that Japanese music wasn't the best place to look for great guitar, and had begun teaching him some of her favorite songs. Currently, he was failing to play a Black Sabbath song she really enjoyed. He had mastered most of the song, but the guitar solo was eluding him. She was right that they had great solos, but he wondered why she was getting so frustrated.

"Look, it really isn't that hard, just use your pinky as well."

"My WHAT?!?"

She gestured to his little finger. All of a sudden, her tip seemed much less dirty to him. He had never used such a juvenile word to describe his smallest finger. In fact, he didn't remember ever using it for anything it particular. She played the solo again, and told him to watch her fingers carefully. After she played it twice, he began to catch on as well, although he was mildly slower.

"You're going to slow!"

"What's wrong with you?!?"

"Tatsuki stood angrily, and slammed her fist onto her desk.

"You've been playing for less than a day, and you're already almost as good as me! It's taken me years, and I guess I'm just a little pissed at you."

"…I'm sorry…"

The karate champion sighed, and sat back down next to Hitsugaya. She put her hand on his shoulder, almost like an older sister having a heartfelt talk with her brother.

"Don't be, I'm just being a bit of a bitch to you."

"No," he said, being quite familiar with worse women, "I like you Tatsuki, you're down-to-Earth, you're world doesn't collapse when you break a nail, and I can actually talk to you."

Tatsuki smiled warmly at him, "Thanks Shiro."

The vein in Hitsugaya's head grew to immense proportions, and his green eyes looked like they could strip the varnish of a military footlocker. Tatsuki had found out early how much that vile nickname irritated him, and had been using it more than height jokes. Even after a moment of openhearted sadness, some people still couldn't resist poking fun at him.

"Alright," the tomboy announced, "we'll take a break from that song, and I'll teach you pinch harmonics."

"What?"

Tatsuki played a note on the guitar, but unlike usual, she did something to cause the note to make a squealing sound. She did this repeatedly, seemingly to prove that it wasn't a mistake. Then she began to play scales, squealing the last not of each. Hitsugaya was bewildered.

"What is that…kinda annoying…thing you're doing?"

"These are pinch harmonics," Tatsuki explained, giving the basic idea rather than a technical explanation, "they're used mostly by modern metal bands who want to end on something cool sounding. They get over-used a lot though, so I don't use them much myself."

"I can see how that would make you want to avoid them, but I guess I'll learn them."

Tatsuki explained how to do a pinch harmonic, by picking the note, lightly touching your finger against the string, and then adding a bit of vibrato.

"This is hard."

"Don't worry," Hitsugaya's new mentor told him, "it took me months to learn them, so it'll probably take you a week or two."

Not wanting to overstay his welcome, Hitsugaya politely said goodbye to Tatsuki, and left to return to Orihime's apartment. Before that though, he made a quick stop by Ichigo's house, and took the 'acoustic' guitar.

Hours later, he lay alone on the roof of the apartment, quietly playing. Occasionally having to hide the precious instrument whenever Matsumoto came to bug him.

That night, Toshiro Hitsugaya had a rare decent sleep, without the worries of the Soul Society's missions hanging over him. However, he lacked his usual foresight, because Matsumoto came to check up on him again, and found him asleep, lightly clutching the guitar.

"…Must…resist…hugging…urge…"


End file.
